NCTJ alumnus, Alex Crawford, to deliver Bob Friend Memorial Lecture

27th January 2012

NCTJ alumnus and Sky News special correspondent, Alex Crawford, will deliver the annual Bob Friend Memorial Lecture at the University of Kent on 21 February. Her lecture is titled Alex Crawford: A Reporter's Story.

Alex began her career at the Wokingham Times,where she completed her NCTJ training,and then moved to the BBC and TV-am before joining Sky News at its launch in 1989. She has won the Royal Television Society Television Journalist Of The Year Award three times and was awarded an OBE in the New Year Honours. In 2011 she wrote about her training experiences for the NCTJ website.

Professor Tim Luckhurst, head of journalism at the University of Kent said: “Alex is an inspiration to many aspiring journalists and a particularly good role model for women seeking to reach the top of the profession.”

The evening will also see Rob Kirk, editorial development manager for Sky News, present a first-year student at the University's Centre for Journalism with the 2012 Sky Bob Friend Memorial Scholarship. The scholarship is awarded to a student who has demonstrated outstanding academic and professional merit and shows great potential for a future career in journalism. The winning student will have his or her first year tuition fees paid and be guaranteed a four-week expenses-paid placement at Sky News later in the year.